Why NHRA “Factory Stock” Is The Hottest Class In Drag Racing!

When it comes to muscle car bragging rights, nothing beats a good ol’ drag race to settle the score. This is nothing new, as production car drag racing has been going on since the 1950s and ’60s. Around 1970, Pro Stock was born and the performance escalated quickly. Today, the Big Three are still at it, and the showcase for this performance is the School of Automotive Machinists & Technology Factory Stock Showdown.

Fans of modern muscle will be instantly attracted to these insane, often unpredictable, and blindingly quick, low 8-second Factory Stockers that eclipse 170 mph. FSS is nothing short of pure, heads-up competition between Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Dodge Challenger Drag Paks, and fierce Cobra Jet Mustangs. Each of these are factory-built, strip-only cars that represent the ultimate in technology and performance, using production-style engines while retaining the street-car look.

Now in its 7th season, the series has evolved into a 7-race series where qualifiers compete for cash, an event champion jacket, the coveted “Wally” trophy, and NHRA national championship points. NHRA Stock Eliminator rules apply, which means the cars must be full weight (3,350 lbs with driver), have a full interior, and they must use 9-inch slicks. To run deep 8s, the factories have pieced together specific engine and transmission combinations to give these machines additional muscle—lots of additional muscle. In fact, the top cars are producing over 1,200 horsepower!

Your hub for horsepower
Get first access to hit shows like Roadkill and Dirt Every Day

The formula has produced parity among the brands and excitement from qualifying to the final round. On average, nearly 30 racers show up for just 16 spots, so even qualifying is an accomplishment. Competitors range from average sportsman racers to a slew of professional racers, including Top Fuel pilot Leah Pritchett, Pro Stock’s Eric Enders, former Pro Stock drivers Allen Johnson and Mark Pawuk, and other notable sportsman standouts including Chris Holbrook, Bruno Massel, Chuck Watson Sr., and David Barton.

The most recent event was held this past weekend in Norwalk, Ohio (June 22 – 24, 2018) at the NHRA Summit Equipment Nationals. Amazingly, just one week after winning his first NHRA Factory Showdown event in Bristol, Tennessee, Mopar driver Joe Welch proved victorious again with his white Dodge called “The Vigilante.”

Welch produced a stout 8.09/169.00 mph pass in the rain-shortened qualifying to claim the pole before running the table in eliminations. In fact, Welch, Mark Pawuk, Leah Pritchett and Allen Johnson swept the top four qualifying spots with Dodge Challengers. Right behind the Mopars were Scott Liebersher (8.150/167 mph) in at COPO Camaro; Chuck Watson Sr. (8.152/169.25) mph; Stephen Bell (8.171/167.91 mph) and rounding out the top 8 was Aaron Stanfield who ran 8.184 at 167.05 mph.

But even qualifying at the top is no guarantee; it takes smart “race craft” and great lights to go rounds. With 1,200 hp on tap, every lap in a Showdown car is a challenge. There’s a fine line between out-of-control wheelie, spinning off the line, and the perfect launch when pouring the coals to one of these machines.

Piecing it all together is no easy task either. Just ask Chuck Watson Sr. who made the quickest lap of the entire event in Round 2 (8.075/169 mph), but lost on a holeshot (0.081 to 0.098) to Mark Pawuk who ran 8.091 to take the win by just 0.001.

After three hard-fought rounds, Welch and Pawuk prepared for the all-Dodge final. On green it was Welch out of the gate first (0.028 to 0.031) and he was able to hang on, scoring an 8.104 at 169.02 mph to best Mark “The Cowboy” Pawuk’s 8.115.166 mph effort by just 0.011-second to score his second win.

“Just like last week [in Bristol], we were struggling; something in our performance was falling off and I don’t know what it was,” said Welch, who uses engines supplied by Mike Moran. “I don’t know if our engine is getting tired or what. In the last round the times were off, but my guys did a great job getting the car together. I like the power we have, but we had more when we started racing in Bristol. I have about 40-45 runs on this engine and it needs to be freshened.”

Norwalk SAM Tech Factory Stock Qualifying

Psn.:

Driver:

Hometown:

Car:

ET:

mph:

top speed:

1

Joseph Welch

Long Boat Key, FL

’15 Challenger

8.092

169

169.3

2

Mark Pawuk

Akron, OH

’15 Challenger

8.102

169.06

169.08

3

Leah Pritchett

Danville, IL

’15 Challenger

8.117

170.02

170.02

4

Allen Johnson

Greeneville, IN

’15 Challenger

8.144

168.96

168.96

5

Scott Libersher

Wilmington, IL

’15 Camaro

8.15

167.95

167.95

6

Chuck Watson

Grosse Ile, MI

’16 Mustang

8.152

169.25

169.25

7

Stephen Bell

Shreveport, LA

’18 Camaro

8.171

167.91

167.91

8

Aaron Stanfield

Bossier City, LA

’15 Camaro

8.184

167.05

167.05

9

David Barton

Robensia, PA

’18 Camaro

8.184

165.09

165.09

10

Arthur Kohn

Richmond, TX

’18 Camaro

8.198

166.39

166.39

11

Leonard Libersher

Wilmington, IL

’15 Camaro

8.211

166.81

166.81

12

Carl Tasca

Cranston, RI

’16 Mustang

8.218

166.83

166.83

13

Pete Gasko Jr.

Monroe Twp., NJ

’18 Camaro

8.227

166.93

166.93

14

Waldemar Rodriguez

Cidra, PR

’15 Camaro

8.259

166.17

166.17

15

Clay Arnett

Hartsville, IN

’15 Camaro

8.271

164.71

164.71

16

Kevin Skinner

Grove City, OH

’16 Mustang

8.283

164.13

164.13

Not Qualified

17

Dan Condon

Wilmington, IL

’18 Camaro

8.298

165.6

165.6

18

Doug Hamp

York, PA

’17 Camaro

8.298

164.07

164.07

19

Jason Dietsch

Edgerton, OH

’16 Mustang

8.31

167.01

167.01

20

David Janac

Caldwell, TX

’18 Camaro

8.349

164.25

164.25

21

Robert Falcone

Pleasant Valley, NY

’16 Camaro

8.356

164.67

164.67

22

Randy Taylor

Artesia, NM

’17 Camaro

8.391

165.05

165.05

23

Randy Eakins

Sikeston, MO

’16 Mustang

8.393

163.37

163.37

24

Dan Stevenson

Bolingbrook, IL

’18 Camaro

8.543

161.4

161.4

25

Chris Holbrook

Livonia, MI

’14 Mustang

8.596

164.23

164.55

26

Jesse Alexandra

West Bend, WI

’17 CamarO

8.647

158.87

158.87

27

Bruno Massel

Elmhurst, IL

’18 Camaro

11.985

75.38

75.38

2018 School Of Automotive Machinists & Technology Schedule

March 15-18*

Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals

Gainesville, FL

April 27-29*

NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

Charlotte, NC

June 15-17*

NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals

Bristol, TN

June 21-24

Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals

Norwalk, OH

Aug. 29-Sept. 3

Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals

Indy

Sept. 21-23

AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals

St. Louis

Oct. 4-7

AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals

Dallas

* previous completed event

The SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown is made up of Dodge Challengers, COPO Camaros, and Ford Performance Cobra Jet Mustangs. The cars look stock but run 8.0s at 170 mph.Joe Welch went wire to wire in Norwalk, qualifying number one and then winning the event. Welch also won the previous FSS race in Bristol, TN, making this two in a row.After a long hiatus from drag racing, Mark “The Cowboy” Pawuk returned to drive a Dodge Challenger Drag Pak in Factory Stock competition. In this, his second race, Pawuk qualified second with an 8.102 at 169.06 mph and he scored a runner-up finish.Chuck Watson Sr. made the quickest pass of the weekend in his 2016 Cobra Jet Ford. Watson qualified fifth, ran 8.07/169 mph in the second round, but unfortunately lost on a holeshot to eventual runner-up Mark Pawuk.Scott Liebersher slipped into the fifth position with his Ray Barton-powered COPO Camaro. His Chevy ran strong, but Liebersher lost a super-tight race to Welch in the semi-finals (8.12 to 8.13).There are a handful of legal engine combinations, but there are three that seem to outshine the rest. One is the Ford 5.2L Cobra Jet engine. The Ford is the smallest in displacement and the only manufacturer to use overhead cams. Making boost is an intercooled 2.9L Whipple supercharger.COPO Camaros use a 350-cube LS with the same 2.9L Whipple blower.Dodge has the most cubic inches at 354, and with the corporate Hemi head it can make roughly 1,200 horsepower.

Aaron Stanfield (near lane) defeated the better-qualified Dodge of Allen Johnson in the quarter-finals. Stanfield used a 0.010 light and 8.158 at 167 to get past Johnson who redlighted.In this epic match, Mark Pawuk used a slight holeshot (0.081 to 0.098) and an 8.091 at 169.19 to defeat Chuck Watson Sr. who ran 8.075 at 169.81 mph. Margin at the stripe was just 0.001.

Most hot rodders know the name “Tasca” as a famous car dealer from Rhode Island. This is Carl Tasca, son of Bob Tasca, who competes in FSS with a 2016 Cobra Jet. Tasca qualified 12th at 8.21 but was a First-round casualty.In round two, Stephen Bell out-ran the better-qualified Dodge of Leah Pritchett (8.13 to 8.17).Former Pro Stock racer Allen Johnson had his Dodge Drag Pak hooking hard and turning quick times. After a rough start to the season, the qualified fourth and went a couple of rounds.Racing in his home state of Ohio, Mark “The Cowboy” Pawuk was a hit with fans of all ages.